Fund honors Standley’s life work

Saturday

Jul 26, 2014 at 8:30 PMJul 26, 2014 at 8:30 PM

By Dan Mac AlpineIpswich@wickedlocal.com

Appropriately, a group of town dignitaries and environmental activists gathered on the Ipswich River Walk foot bridge last Thursday morning to honor a man who worked most of his life to make what the group was enjoying — a cleaner river, grasses and trees beyond EBSCO and fresh air — possible.The Echo Charitable Foundation had just donated enough money to establish the David Standley Fund for Stormwater Climate Change and Sea Level Rise at the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commission.The fund will support programs, research and education efforts to protect the environment and mitigate the effects of storm water, climate change and rising sea levels on wetlands, conservation land and coastal areas."Where I came from wetlands were swamps, trees were to be cut and land was to be cleared, said former Selectman Jim Engle. "David taught me something different."Standley has spent most of his professional life protecting environmental resources including:Serving 16 years on the Ipswich Conservation Commission, 13 as chairman;Serving 25 years on the Ipswich Open Space Committee and is primarily responsible for the town’s open space bond;Serving as the first commissioner of what is now the state Department of Environmental Protection;And serving 30 years on the Trustees of Reservations Crane Natural Resources Committee.Standley has received other awards for his work including the United States Environmental Protection Agency Merit Award and the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions Environmentalist of the Year Award.Sissy ffolliott, Echo trustee, declined to give the amount of the foundation’s donation, but said, "A good amount of things can be done with it.""Every city and every town needs someone like David Standley," said Eugene B. Benson, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions. "He’s given his heart and soul.""David and I supported and sparred with one another for decades," said Selectman Bill Craft. "He guided and terrorized the town to ensure the environment of the town."